A shortage of digital marketing staff is putting Thai businesses at a significant competitive disadvantage, according to JobsDB Thailand, Asia's leading job-search website.
Managing director Noppawan Chulakanista said more than 85% of Thai companies are now facing such a shortage, caused by the rising number of internet users and increased digital ad spending.
With 56% of the Thai population or more than 35 million people being internet users, Thai enterprises have to be more active in digital marketing, she added.
In 2015, ad spending on digital media in Thailand exceeded 8.08 billion baht.
The need to hire digital staff has become even more urgent with the government's promotion of the Thailand 4.0 master plan and an innovation-driven economy, said Ms Noppawan.
JobsDB's database shows that more than 5,000 digital marketing jobs are now available, but only 700 have attracted applications.
"This reflects that more than 85% of businesses must be lacking staff for this field of work," said Ms Noppawan. "This is a big problem if we want to further develop industries related to digital media, online marketing and the economy in Thailand."
She said JobsDB encourages students to pay more attention to jobs in the digital field to respond to demand from Thailand's digital media industry, which looks set to grow further.
JobsDB has found that the salaries of people working in digital marketing are about 61% higher than those of people working in conventional marketing.
The monthly salary for supervisor level positions in the digital marketing field is 48,333 baht or more, compared with 30,000 baht or more in conventional marketing.
For mid-level jobs in digital marketing, salaries start from 28,188 a month, compared with 20,000 baht for analogous positions in conventional marketing.
For junior level positions, digital-marketing employees earn at least 19,305 baht on average, while those doing similar conventional-marketing jobs earn 16,000 or more.
"These salary figures show there is solid demand for digital jobs, thanks to the fast growing digital sector," said Miss Noppawan.
Competition in the field is quite stiff, however.
Ms Noppawan said the qualifications required for such jobs include enjoying new things and always keeping abreast of new trends; picking up skills quickly, whether one is self-taught or learning from others; understanding trends and seasonal matters; having and knowing how to apply consumer insights; and having a good command of spoken and written English.